Yep definitely. Earlier in the thread I linked to the articles where Hayden and Ponting played some of the greatest pre-match mind games I have ever seen.

And Smith's dismissal is one of the greatest examples of letting pressure get to you and affecting your performance I've ever seen. He danced down the wicket and tried to thump McGrath out the ground for God's sake. IIRC Kallis decided to play aggressively as a response to the stick he got after his innings in the pool stage and threw his wicket away equally stupidly.

Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the Aussie dressing room at the interval. I don't think they expected South Africa to hand the game on a plate that easily.

Strangely forgotten tour that. Should have been one for ages in terms of a high-water mark, but bizarrely never talked about.

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

ICC plot, tbh.

Nah, seriously in retrospect was it the highwater mark of the great Australian teams? Continued to be great for another couple of years afterwards, but were maybe on the downhill slope slightly.

Gradient has increased exponentially last coupla years, obvz.

I haven't forgotten it. I have a lot of for Martyn and Clarke's knocks on that tour, and Gillespie was amazing as well. Beating SL 3-0 and India in India was an awesome effort, but I still think about what could have happened if the fifth day in Chennai hadn't been rained out..

Originally Posted by Dissector

Um you are aware that South Africa beat India in India in 2000 : 2-0 right? Talk about a forgotten series.

Yep, SA trounced us in that series.

Originally Posted by Spark

Yeah precisely. If they'd been knocked out narrowly vs India or SL having fought til the end, the choking tag would be much less justified despite their pitiful knockout record (0% success rate in WCs). But instead they committed high-grade self-immolation against a team that was not exactly working magic, and by common consent. Exceptionally disciplined, committed, hungry and with immense self-belief but those shouldn't have, in the end, made a difference to the result, given the quality of SA's batting lineup. But they just ****ed themselves immensely by playing deadset moronic cricket. NZ deserved the win because exploiting an opponent's weaknesses is a crucial and highly commendable skill, but that doesn't mean the weaknesses aren't there, and they aren't glaring.

With the 07 match... I wonder how much of it was the fear that if they didn't get a gigantic score it wouldn't be safe, having been absolutely murdered by Aus top order earlier on...

Agree totally.

Originally Posted by honestbharani

The guy made good points but he is stupid if he thinks RSA were in control of their chase against India in the group game.. **** me, but 14 off the last over, I would back the bowling side 9 times out of 10...